1-Benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone → 1-Benzyl-3-[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]pyrrolidin-3-ol

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a solution of (2-iodophenyl)methanol (5.88 g, 0.0251 mol) in tetrahydrofuran (40 mL, 0.5 mol) at −78 Celsius was added 1.600 M of n-butyllithium in hexane (31.7 mL). The mixture was stirred at −4 celsius for 1 hour, then cooled to −78 Celsius. A solution of 1-benzylpyrrolidin-3-one (3.67 mL, 0.0228 mol) in THF (2 mL) was added to the above mixture, and the resulting mixture was stirred at −78 Celsius for 2 hours. The reaction was quenched with small amount of brine, then extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic phase was dried over MgSO4 and concentrated. The residue was purified by flash chromatography on silica gel column with 70% AcOEt in hexanes to give the desired compound (3.5 g, 54% yield). MS (ESI): 284.1 (M+H+).

Provenance & Evidence